The present invention generally relates to an Ethernet Digital Storage (EDS) Card, satellite transmission system, and method for data delivery or advertising. More particularly, the present invention relates to an EDS Card for receiving, storing, and transmitting files including video, audio, text, and multimedia files, especially files received via satellite transmission.
The effort to develop a system for error-free, time-crucial distribution of bandwidth consumptive files has driven the data delivery industry for some time. Within the broadcasting industry, especially radio broadcasting, private network systems have been developed to facilitate the distribution of audio files for subsequent radio broadcasting. These private network systems often use satellites as “bent-pipes” to deliver their content reliably and quickly. These private network systems have evolved from primitive repeaters to systems allowing the receiving station greater degrees of interaction and reliability.
The Internet is an enormous network of computers through which digital information can be sent from one computer to another. The Internet's strength its high level of interconnectivity also poses severe problems for the prompt and efficient distribution of voluminous digital information, particularly digitized imaging, audio, or video information, such as an audio broadcast transmission. Internet service providers (ISP's) have attempted to accelerate the speed of delivery of content to Internet users by delivering Internet content (e.g., TCP/IP packets) to the user through a satellite broadcast system. One such system is the direct to home (“DTH”) satellite delivery system such as that offered in connection with the trademark, “DirecPC.” In these DTH types of systems, each subscriber or user of the system must have: (i) access to a satellite dish; (ii) a satellite receiver connected to the satellite dish and mounted in the user's PC; and (iii) an Internet back channel in order to request information from Internet Web sites. The DTH system is thus quite costly, since each user must have its own receiver and connection to a satellite dish. The DTH system is also somewhat difficult to deploy since the satellite antenna and receiver is mounted in each DTH user's PC.
The DTH system also does not take advantage of pre existing satellite systems, and it often is a single carrier system, dedicated to the delivery of Internet content to the user. It does not allow the user flexibility to receive, much less distribute to others, other types of services, such as non Internet radio broadcast or faxing services for example. The DTH systems also typically modify the IP packets at the head end, thus introducing significant processing delay through the need to reconstruct packets on the receiving end.
DTH systems typically utilize the DVB standard, in which event the system might broadcast other services. DVB systems, however, utilize a statisitical data carrier. For this and other reasons, the DVB systems often cause significant additional delay due to the need to reconstruct packets from the statistically multiplexed carrier sent through DVB system. DTH system also add significant overhead to the data stream they provide, thus requiring additional bandwidth and associated costs in order to processes and deliver DVB data streams.
The DTH system is also typically quite limited in its bandwidth capabilities. The consumer DirecPC system, for example, is limited to 440 kbps, thus limiting its effectiveness as a reliable, flexible, and quick distribution vehicle for Internet content, particularly voluminous content, to all users of the system through the one carrier.
Another system used by ISP's and others to deliver Internet content through satellites is the use of commercial or professional quality satellite receivers in conjunction with traditional Internet routers connected into an ISP LAN or similar LAN for delivery of the received content through its LAN to its subscribers either on the LAN or through modems and telecommunications lines interconnecting the modems. (See Prior Art FIG. 3.) These types of separate receiver and router satellite systems have typically required use of traditional satellite data receivers with integrated serial (often RS 422) interfaces or data outputs. The data output is connected into the router, which then converts the data into Ethernet compatible output and routes and outputs the Ethernet onto the LAN.
The applicant has discovered that these prior art data receiver and separate router systems present many problems. For example, the traditional data receivers are relatively inflexible and support only one or two services; and the use of a separate router is expensive. In addition, these types of systems usually employ a DVB transport mechanism, which not well suited to transmitting Internet and similar types of content for a number of reasons. One reason is that, as noted above, the DVB transport protocol and mechanism add substantial delays into the system. Another is that, as the applicant has discovered, the DVB transport mechanism utilizes excessive amounts of bandwidth.
In addition, prior art data receiver and separate router systems often employ a separate storage memory, often linked to the router via a Local Area Network (LAN) which adds further expense, complication, and bandwidth consumption. Also, prior art systems are often awkward to adjust, to the extent that the prior art systems are adjustable at all. Additionally, prior art receivers typically are unable to provide multicasting and expensive multicasting routers must be added to the system to support multicasting.
The applicants have attempted to solve many problems through the development of several prior art satellite data transmission systems and modules, available from StarGuide Digital Networks, Inc. of Reno, Nev., that may be added to a receiver including an Asynchronous Services Statistical Demux Interface Module, a Digital Video Decoder Module, an MX3 Digital Multimedia Multiplexer, a Digital Audio Storage Module, and a Digital Multimedia Satellite Receiver. However, cost, efficiency, and reliability may still be improved.
Additionally, in the field of broadcasting, advertising is a major source of revenue. However, radio broadcasting of several types of advertising, such as national advertising campaigns, is often disfavored, In national advertising campaigns, advertising “spots” are often localized to the region in which the spot will be played. For example, an advertising spot to be run in Chicago might be localized by including voice content from a Chicago personality, or including a reference to Chicago. Spot localization and distribution is extremely cumbersome in prior art systems. Often prior art systems require audio tapes to be generated at a centralized location and then physically mailed to a local broadcaster, which is costly, labor intensive and not time effective. The development of a distribution system providing reliable, fast and efficient delivery of content as well as increased automation capability throughout the system may be of great use in data delivery enterprises such as nation ad campaign distribution and may lead to industry growth and increased profitability. For example, increased automation, ease of use and speed of distribution of a national ad campaign to a number of local broadcasters may allow increased broadcast advertising and may draw major advertising expenditures into national broadcasting advertising campaigns.